Industries of the Future - West Virginia

Wood/Forest Products

Wood is West Virginia's greatest renewable resource, with almost 80 percent of the state covered in productive forests.

With this abundance of resources, the forest products industry is well established in West Virginia, with over 500 companies directly involved in state-based forest product operations.

The industry ranges from small logging companies employing three to ten people to individual handcrafters producing beautiful handmade furniture and other products.

The state has over 180 sawmills (Hamer Lumber, Coastal Lumber, Allegheny Wood Products), 3 veneer mills (The Dean Company, Columbia of West Virginia), 18 rustic fencing mills (Ricottilli Lumber Company, WV Split Rail Company), 58 dry kilns (Bruce Hardwood Flooring, Hamer Lumber, Coastal Lumber, Allegheny Wood Products), 11 pressure-treating plants (Coastal Lumber Company, Acme Wood Preserving, Koppers Industries), 46 concentration yards (Burke-Parsons-Bowlby, Westcor Forest Products, Allegheny Veneer Co., and Westvaco), 3 engineered wood product plants (Georgia Pacific, Weyerhaeuser, Trust-Joist), 2 pellet fuel companies (Hamer Pellet Fuels and Lignetics), and almost 200 secondary manufacturers producing paneling, floor, trim, pallets, furniture, and cabinets.

We host one of the largest Oriented Strand Board mills in the country and the largest flooring manufacturing facility in the world. You can find wood products from West Virginia and the Appalachian forest region in almost every house in America.

Our timber resource is exported to a variety of countries, either as semi-processed logs or as full-scale value added products.

IOF-WV Wood/Forest Issues in Brief

• Implement sustainable forestry programs for multipurpose plantations, increased yields, and better quality product per acre of forest land.
• Develop scanning technologies to maximize yield per log, optical lumber grading technologies, and nondestructive testing methods for wood structures.
• Develop efficient technologies to process and utilize wood residue bio fuels, manufactured products, and co-firing [.pdf 211KB] applications.
• Develop efficient wood processing and manufacturing technologies, energy efficient dry kilns, energy efficient motors, and plant-wide energy assessments.
• Lead development of technology roadmaps and long-term Vision for the U.S. hardwoods industry.

Links to Participating Companies

Projects:

• IMPROVING QUALITY AND UTILIZATION OF UPLAND HARDWOODS IN THE APPALACHIAN REGION
• REFORESTATION OF ABANDONED MINE LAND (SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY INITIATIVE)
• WOOD INDUSTRY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
• ASSESSING NON-TRADITIONAL VALUE ADDED OPPORTUNITIES FOR PRIMARY PROCESSORS OF HARDWOOD LUMBER
• ENHANCING WV'S FOREST STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM THROUGH WEB-BASED INFORMATION OUTREACH AND DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS
• WILD LAND FIRES IN WEST VIRGINIA: A PLANNING APPROACH FOR MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL
• FOREST PRODUCTS INDUSTRIES OF THE FUTURE ACTIVITIES
• IMPROVING WOOD IN TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER NEEDS
• WOOD IMPROVEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM IMPROVEMENT
• DESIGN OF THINNER CIRCULAR SAWBLADES
• EVALUATION OF MULTI-PRODUCT INTERACTIONS FOR SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN HARDWOOD STANDS
• CONVERSION OF WOOD FIBER AND WOOD WASTE MATERIALS TO ACTIVATED CARBON MONOLITHS BY CHEMICAL ACTIVATION
• TECHNOLOGIES AND PROCESSES FOR DURABLE, HIGH STRENGTH WOOD-POLYMER COMPOSITES

WVU Contact:

• Joe McNeel
  West Virginia University
  Forestry Division
  (304) 293-2941 Ext. 2451
  jmcneel@wvu.edu

Industry Contact:

• Lannes C. Williamson
  Lannes Williamson Pallets, Inc.
  (304) 675-2716
  lwilliamson@citynet.net